Neha Jain: http://philippinesaviationnews.blogspot.com/1

1. Unprepared, disorganized
The situation in Egypt, Libya and the Middle East caught the Philippine government unprepared, flatfooted. More than a week after Libya erupted, less than 1,000 Filipinos out of 30,000 OFWs have arrived in Manila.

Ambassadors are mandated to submit regular monthly reports to DFA and special reports for special situations. Especially after the upheaval in Tunisia, the Philippine Embassies in Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and other neighboring countries should have sent an assessment of the developing political tensions in their area of coverage. That early, especially in the light of the Iraq and Lebanon experiences, DFA should have made evacuation contingency plans for any emergency situation.

Depending on the size, Philippine embassies, except Washington, Tokyo, Rome, Paris and Geneva have an average of five officers, five Filipino employees and four or five local hires. Funds are released quarterly and are very limited. As shown by the Egypt/Libya experience, an additional staff of five or six from Manila was sent to Egypt and $130,000 released for a voluntary repatriation program. Initially, the same was done for Libya. Thus, the slow repatriation of Filipino OFWs.

What should be done now? First, there should be an immediate assessment of the situation in Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE, Qatar, Algeria and other Middle East countries. All Middle East posts should now be given additional personnel, preferably three officers and three Foreign Service staff. OWWA which has a P12 billion reserve should also beef up their personnel in the Middle East. OWWA Administrator Carmelita Dimzon admitted they lack personnel in the Middle East. We don’t even have an OWWA welfare officer in Yemen. The AFP should send more defense attaches. Contingency funds of $100,000 per embassy should now be released. Visa and consular fees in the embassies conceived should be made available for use by the Ambassadors.

The same repatriation plans should now be coordinated with PAL and Cebu Pacific, and maybe Emirates and Qatar Air for future evacuations.

China was able to evacuate 6,000 workers daily by the use of ferries by sea from Libya to Malta. Other Asian countries like Thailand acted fast, too.

There are now thousands of OFWs who have been able to reach Egypt and Tunisia on their own. Why has no PAL plane been contracted to start picking them up? Several hundred people are now housed at the Philippine Embassy in Cairo. Just feeding them entails great expense. They should be picked up immediately. Planes should be sent forthwith to Cairo, Alexandria and Jerba Tunisia.

The P-Noy administration early on showed a lack of concern for OFWs when it cut to P200 million the already limited fund for OFW concerns in the 2011 budget. Note that initially, only P25 million was released for Libya. After eight months, there has got to be a realistic re-assessment of allocation of public funds. Initially, at least P1 billion from the President’s contingent fund and the President’s social fund should be released to DFA.

2. P400 million withdrawn from CAAP funds by Arroyo government - union
By Rainier Allan Ronda (The Philippine Star) Updated February 28, 2011 12:00 AM Comments (57)

MANILA, Philippines - More than P400 million in massive withdrawals by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) in the last months of the previous administration could have been patterned after the “pabaon” system of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

The CAAP Employees Union (CAAP-EU) urged the Senate to investigate several withdrawals made by former CAAP director general Ruben Ciron.

The union claimed Ciron made massive withdrawals, assisted by his chief of staff Ronaldo Manlapig, in March 2010.

The withdrawals were made before Ciron was replaced by Alfonso Cusi, then general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA).

Cusi’s appointment to the CAAP was among the many midnight appointments made by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the last months of her administration, the union pointed out.

It was learned that Ciron was a former Air Force general who served in various posts at the Department of National Defense, before he was appointed by Arroyo to head the then newly created CAAP in 2008.

Ciron is a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1968.

The CAAP-EU reportedly obtained a copy of the CAAP’s account with the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) and the Land Bank of the Philippines that showed five huge cash withdrawals shortly before Ciron’s departure as head of CAAP in March 2010.

From the data seen in CAAP’s passbook with the UCPB, which figured in the AFP “conversion” scandal, the CAAP withdrew P150 million on Jan. 7 and P80 million on March 2, last year.

The Landbank passbook, on the other hand, showed there were four huge US dollar withdrawals made by the CAAP in a two-week period last year from the government bank – US$1 million on Feb. 23, another US$1 million on Feb. 26, and US$2 million, also on March 2.

“These withdrawals are highly questionable since it was made when he was known to be on the way out due to the CAAP’s failures such as the issuance of the SSC (significance safety concerns) findings on Philippine civil aviation by the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) in December 2009 and the Category II downgrade of the Philippines by the US FAA (United States Federal Aviation Authority,” a CAAP-EU official said.

Apart from the huge bank withdrawals, the CAAP-EU said another anomaly in the CAAP that seemed similar to the AFP “conversion” controversy was the disbursements of United Nations fund, noting the ICAO was a specialized agency of the UN on international civil aviation matters.

It was learned that the Commission on Audit (COA), in their 2009 audit of the agency, had discovered that the CAAP’s ICAO trust fund which was deposited with up to US$12 million from its establishment in 1996, had been depleted to a degree that it has a standing balance of only US$3 million as of end 2009.

The spending of the US$9 million would be hard to justify, considering the SSC finding on the Philippines in 2009 by the ICAO USOAP audit, the union said.

The union earlier exposed the issuance of the SSC by the ICAO during their call for the ouster of Ciron from the agency.

The CAAP-EU revealed in January 2010 of the ICAO’s inclusion of the Philippines in a list of countries they found with “significant safety concern” on its civil aviation systems after their conduct of inspections under their Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program (USOAP) in 2009.

In an electronic bulletin issued by the ICAO on Dec. 18, 2009 the ICAO listed the countries with SSC findings as Angola, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Congo, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Kazakhstan, Malawi, Philippines, Rwanda, and Zambia.

“The safety oversight audit of the Philippines under the comprehensive systems approach revealed a Significant Safety Concern which remains unresolved by the State,” the ICAO said.

The SSC finding for the Philippines was a double whammy for the country’s local civil aviation industry after the US Federal Aviation Authority downgraded the country from a Category I to a Category II rating due to deficiencies in its civil aviation systems in December 2007.

The FAA downgrade caused the Arroyo government to rush legislation of Republic Act 9497 which created the CAAP from its forerunner, the Air Transportation Office (ATO), since it turned it into an “authority” with autonomy, empowering it to keep the billions in income it raises from the collection of landing and navigation fees to buy vital equipment and hire qualified technical personnel by raising salaries to international standards.

The CAAP-EU, through its vice-president Cesar Lucero, laid the blame for the failures of CAAP on Ciron, who he claimed had mainly attended to the hiring of his fellow retired military officers and members in the Reform the Armed Forces of the Philippines (RAM) into vital and highly technical positions at the CAAP as “consultants” even without having civil aviation experience and expertise.

Worse, Lucero said, these consultants were being appointed by Ciron to head plantilla positions that were not allowed by civil service laws.

The union stressed that under RA 9497, the CAAP was supposed to absorb the regular employees of the agency’s forerunner, the ATO, in order to retain the experienced air traffic controllers and other crucial technical employees of the agency.

3. Total Drag

You’ve packed your bags, booked your hotel, and made it to the check-in counter on time--and yet somehow, you’re stuck in town for another day. With freak storms and late planes marooning passengers on a regular basis, is there any way for you to avoid a terminal snafu?
Zach Honig of Frommer’s travel guides suggests booking the first flight of the day. This is because departure delays tend to increase as the day progresses and aircraft fly back and forth between destinations. The airplane for the first flight, on the other hand, will most likely be waiting at the gate the night before. It might mean waking up before the crack of dawn to head to the airport, but with it is a guarantee that you’ll arrive at your destination on time.

When taking a trip during holiday seasons, Mr. Honig suggests flying out or in on the red letter day itself. The crowds commonly fly before and after it, and airlines take advantage of this by increasing fares on those dates.

Another booking tip is to avoid connecting flights whenever possible. For one, it increases the likelihood of you missing the plane altogether should you get to your stopover late. According to the American National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the ratio of passengers to the total capacity of the aircraft--also known as load factors--can be very high, making it more difficult for airlines to accommodate passengers with missed connections. Paying extra for a non-stop ticket may thus be worth it if it means getting out of this snowball effect.

Note also that non-stop flights are distinct from direct flights. The latter proceeds like a bus or train line; it makes different stops along the way but passengers remain aboard until they reach their destination.

If you must book a connecting flight, Farecompare.com CEO Rick Seaney suggests that you read up on which airports tend to experience delays or bad weather and try to avoid them. Those travelling to, from, or within the US might benefit from a pre-booking visit to the NATCA website, avoiddelays.com. This hosts a list of America’s most delayed departure and arrival airports, and the worst times to fly into them.

The air traffic controllers’ group also suggests choosing a secondary, less congested airport if possible. Take note also of the terminal’s size; even if you do get there before your next flight takes off, you might still miss it if it takes you too long to get from one gate to another.

To increase your chances of smooth travel, check websites like flightstats.com for specific airlines’ on time performance, too. Not all carriers display this reliability gauge prominently on their websites, and stats for departures can differ from those for arrivals.

Admittedly, all this research won’t stop a typhoon or volcanic eruption from grounding the plane. In the event of a cancellation, line up at the rebooking counter, but try calling the airline’s own customer service line from your mobile phone while you’re waiting. There’s a chance that you’ll get through to the contact center before you get to the front of the queue.

Be sure to read the fine print of the ticket for possible perks. Airlines like Cebu Pacific may allow travellers to cancel the ticket and store it in a travel fund, to be used within a certain period of their original departure date, or to transfer it to another person's name for a fee.
If you’ve passed all the airline’s documentary and medical requirements, complied will all necessary procedures, but are denied entry by the carrier, the Civil Aeronautics Board requires the latter to give you “denied boarding compensation.”

According to CAB Regulation No. 7, this is equal to 100% of the value of the one-way fare, including charges, plus P150 for domestic flights. For international flights, the plus is P1,500 or its equivalent in foreign currency, on top of P500 for accommodation, meals, land transportation, and other expenses. You will also receive priority booking for the next available flight using the same ticket.

Alternatively, the airline might offer to arrange for alternative transportation--land or otherwise--that would take you to your destination not later than three (for domestic flights) or four (for international) hours from your original scheduled time of arrival.
You must receive a written explanation of your denied boarding and your compensation on the same day and place, or at the office of the carrier. Note also that if you accept this option, you relieve the airline of its liability for damage claims.

The denied boarding compensation does not apply in cases where the state required the space allotted for you; the aircraft was replaced with a smaller one for operational or safety reasons; and in cancellations due to fortuitous events, weather, strikes, or other circumstances beyond the carrier’s control.

According to the 2009 figures of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, the months with the highest passenger traffic are April (4 million), May (4.1 million), and December (3.7 million). Meanwhile, the most flights were made in March (90,000 aircraft moved), May (87,000), and December (84,000).

4. John W. Renner
WHEELER - John W. Renner, 91, died Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011, in Wheeler.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday in First Baptist Church in Mobeetie with the Rev. Don McElroy officiating. Burial will be in Wheeler Cemetery in Wheeler. Arrangements are by Wright Funeral Home.

John was born March 9, 1919, in Wheeler County at his grandparent's home in Wheeler County to Myrtle Allred Renner and Johnny Renner. John was raised in Laketon. He graduated from Harding College High School in Searcy, Ark., in May 1940, and attended Harding College for one semester before enlisting in the Army. He enlisted in the Army on Feb. 16, 1942, in Lubbock and served in WWII in the Pacific Theater. He served as a technician fifth grade Company B, 436th Signal, Heavy construction Battalion Aviation. His campaigns included Papua, Guadalcanal and Southern Philippines. He was stationed in Australia, the Philippines, New Guinea and New Zealand. He received the Good Conduct Medal, Asiatic Pacific Service Medal, Philippine Liberation Ribbon and Meritarian Service Union Plaque.

After WWII, John returned to Laketon, where he farmed and ranched for the rest of his life. He was a mechanic and knew how to do everything. He helped his neighbors and ran a combine until the age of 87.

John was preceded in death by his parents; and a sister, Marguerite Renner Anglin.

John is survived by a sister, Ethel Renner Grimes of Wheeler; a niece, Elizabeth Grimes Shipp of Wheeler; and two great-nieces, Katie Shipp Hathaway of Canadian and Savanna Shipp of New York.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests memorials be to Wheeler Historical Museum, P.O. Box 449, Wheeler, TX 79096.

NEHA JAIN

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